Takeshi Morisato (森里 武)

Lecturer in Non-Western Philosophy

  • Philosophy
  • School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences

Contact details

Address

Street

Room 9.06

City
40 George Square, Edinburgh
Post code
EH8 9JX

Availability

  • Office Hours: Fridays 13:00-15:00 or by Appointment.

Background

I am a Japanese national who grew up in Tokyo, Japan, but was born in Mexico City, in the year of the Dog. After studying and teaching philosophy in the United States, Europe, and China, I ended up specialising in East Asian and Japanese philosophy. I am currently serving as the editor of the "European Journal of Japanese Philosophy," and am the associate editor of the "Journal of East Asian Philosophy" (Springer). Currently I am also working as  the regional editor of the “Bloomsbury Introduction to World Philosophies” series.

Qualifications

Ph.D. (Philosophy), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium (2016)

M.Phil. (Philosophy), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, (2012)

M.A. (Philosophy), Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles CA, USA (2009)

B.A. (Philosophy), University of Nebraska at Kearney, Kearney NE, USA (2007)

Responsibilities & affiliations

Edinburgh Buddhist Studies

European Network of Japanese Philosophy

Asian Philosophical Texts 

International Society of East Asian Philosophy 

Undergraduate teaching

  • Buddhist Philosophy
  • Japanese Philosophy

 

Postgraduate teaching

  • Buddhist Philosophy
  • Japanese Philosophy

Open to PhD supervision enquiries?

Yes

Areas of interest for supervision

I am open to topics in the field of "world philosophies," "East Asian/Japanese philosophy," and "Buddhist philosophy."  

Current PhD students supervised

Joint Supervision

  • Hannah Sasaoka-Berns (University of Gent), "The Primacy of Lived-Space: Architectural Theory and Practice in the Life and Work of Shirai Sei'ichi (白井晟一)"  
  • Douglas Atkinson (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), "Spectral Inversions of Beckett: On the Japanese Reception of Beckett’s Prose" 

Research summary

My AOS is Metaphysics, Philosophy of Religion, and Existentialism. 

My philosophical education included programs in both North American and European institutions which cherished the “History of Philosophy,” while remaining critically inclusive of continental philosophy. As a result, my first entry into the area of East Asian and Japanese philosophy was a comparative/continental approach. I now examine the histories of East Asian and Japanese philosophies within the context of “world philosophies.” 

Most of my recent publications are dedicated to contemporary Japanese philosophy (especially the Kyoto School). However, with a view to teaching the history of Japanese philosophy at the PPLS, I am currently working on an introductory text on Kūkai 空海(774–835) and his Shingon Esoteric Buddhist philosophy.